d by the Emperor, there was a mayor, a very worthy man and
intelligent too, whose head was suddenly turned by the thought that his
sovereign might one day descend upon his home. Up to this time he had
lived in the house of his fathers, a son respectful of the slightest
family traditions. But when once the all-absorbing idea of receiving the
Emperor had taken possession of his brain, he became another man. In
this new light, what had before seemed sufficient for his needs, even
enjoyable, all this simplicity that his ancestors had loved, appeared
poor, ugly, ridiculous. Out of the question to ask an Emperor to climb
this wooden staircase, sit in these old arm-chairs, walk over such
superannuated carpets. So the mayor called architect and masons;
pickaxes attacked walls and demolished partitions, and a drawing-room
was made, out of all proportion to the rest of the house in size and
splendor. He and his family retired into close quarters, where people
and furniture incommoded each other generally. Then, having emptied his
purse and upset his household by this stroke of genius, he awaited the
royal guest. Alas, he soon saw the end of the Empire arrive, but the
Emperor never.

The folly of this poor man is not so rare. As mad as he are all those
who sacrifice their home life to the demands of the world. And the
danger in such a sacrifice is most menacing in times of unrest. Our
contemporaries are constantly exposed to it, and constantly succumbing.
How many family treasures have they literally thrown away to satisfy
worldly ambitions and conventions; but the happiness upon which they
thought to come through these impious immolations always eludes them.

To give up the ancestral hearth, to let the family traditions fall into
desuetude, to abandon the simple domestic customs, for whatever return,
is to make a fool's bargain; and such is the place in society of family
life, that if this be impoverished, the trouble is felt throughout the
whole social organism. To enjoy a normal development, this organism has
need of well-tried individuals, each having his own value, his own
hall-mark. Otherwise society becomes a flock, and sometimes a flock
without a shepherd. But whence does the individual draw his
originality--this unique something, which, joined to the distinctive
qualities of others, constitutes the wealth and strength of a community?
He can draw it only from his own family. Destroy the assemblage of
memories and practice